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A growing number of local and national leaders, celebrities and scientists are expressing strong support for Colorado’s two Yes for Health and Safety Over Fracking initiatives – #75 and #78 – for the November 2016 ballot.

The proponents are encouraging locals, as well as people across the nation, to support the initiatives, citing the urgent need to protect neighborhoods from fracking pollution and safety hazards, decrease dangerous methane emissions exacerbating climate change, and protect local communities from further lawsuits by providing constitutional authority for local bans and moratoria.

“Local communities should be able to treat oil and gas operations like any other industrial activity,” said Colorado Rep. Mike Foote.”We wouldn’t allow a factory or refinery a few hundred feet away from someone’s home, and we shouldn’t allow it for fracking either. The oil and gas industry has fought hard to keep their special exceptions in place. Initiatives #75 and #78 will make sure local communities, not the industry, controls what happens in their neighborhoods.”

“On behalf of our members, Physicians for Social Responsibility expresses our full support for ballot measures 75 and 78 in Colorado,” said Barbara Gottlieb, Director of Environment & Health for Physicians for Social Responsibility. “The evidence is in, and it shows that oil and gas development, including well sites, compressors and pipelines, exposes people to toxic substances that can severely damage health – potentially causing cancers, lung damage, neurological damage, and more. Given how serious the health consequences can be, local communities should have the authority to protect their residents from oil and gas development. This is heavy industrial activity, demonstrably associated with grave risks to the human body. Initiative 75 and Initiative 78 are necessary steps to allow government to step up and do its duty to reduce these risks and protect human health.”

“Coloradans deserve a greater say over how and whether oil and gas development occurs in their neighborhoods and communities,” said Boulder County Commissioner Elise Jones. “Unfortunately, the COGCC, the Governor’s Oil & Gas Task Force and the State Legislature have all turned a deaf ear to calls for more local control. Citizens have no choice but to go to the ballot box to ensure their voices are heard.”

Actress Shailene Woodley, who stars in the Divergent film series, attended an event in Boulder two weeks ago to help promote the Yes for Health and Safety Over Fracking ballot initiatives.

Leading climate advocate and 350.org co-founder Bill McKibben, who spoke in May at a community protest of one of the country’s largest proposed fracking sites adjacent to a school in Thornton, announced his support with the following statement: “Fracking is dangerous, and not just to local communities. Because of what we’ve learned in the last year about methane leakage, activists protecting their neighborhoods are also a first line of defense against dangerous climate change. Protecting our climate means keeping fossil fuels in the ground. Working to put a fracking referendum on the November ballot is one crucial way we can make our voices heard and show our leaders that we’ll do whatever it takes to protect our climate and our communities from fracking.”“Every other industry, including hardrock mining, must comply with local zoning laws,” said Boulder Mayor Suzanne Jones. “It is only the oil & gas industry that is allowed to trump local land use decisions and drill within neighborhoods and near hospitals, schools, and parks. This is why ballot measure #75 is needed, so local governments can responsibly manage their communities and ensure the health and safety of their residents.”

Actor and activist Mark Ruffalo tweeted: “Get fossil fuels on the ballot in #Colorado and vote for renewables! @YesHealthSafety #KeepItIntheGround”

Colorado Rep. Joe Salazar said, “I support Initiatives 75 and 78 because we need to do better as communities to protect our children and the environment from the harmful effects of fracking.”

Research and evidence is mounting of air pollution, groundwater contamination, decreased property values and negative health impacts from industrial fracking operations placed too close to communities. Toxic chemicals linked to fracking have been found in air and water that cause cancers, hormonal imbalances, asthma, nosebleeds, fainting, dizziness, nausea, skin disorders, impacts to fetuses, and more.

Methane gas, which leaks from fracking operations, has 86 times the global warming impact of carbon dioxide over a 20-year term.[1] Studies indicate that methane leakage rates over 2.7% are worse for climate change than burning coal. Methane leakage rates from wellheads in the Denver-Julesburg basin average 4%.

More than 50 groups and organizations have endorsed the Yes for Health and Safety Over Fracking ballot initiatives. These groups span the gamut from local grassroots groups of moms protecting their children’s schools like North Metro Neighbors for Safe Energy to large national organizations like the Sierra Club. Endorsements can be found at http://yesforhealthandsafety.org/endorsements/.

The campaign must secure over 98,492 signatures on each of the initiative petitions by August 8 to be placed on this November’s statewide ballot. The organizers encourage anyone wishing to support the campaign to get in touch with a local captain to sign or carry a petition or make a donation through the website at www.yesforhealthandsafety.org.

“This is the most critical campaign happening in the US right now, and it has the potential to not only protect our communities, but will have ripple effects across the entire nation,” said a local organizer and 350 Colorado director Micah Parkin. “While we may not have the $23 million dollars that industry front groups have, we have moral and global imperative to protect our communities’ health and usher in a clean energy future for generations to come. We urge everyone concerned to get involved.”.